I know lots of you will be wondering why I’m bothering with fake tan when I live in the scorching hot Middle East. The answer is that sometimes it’s just too hot here. And although I could chain myself to a sun lounger, I’d probably end up burned to a crisp with skin that resembles a shrivelled up prune. On top of that, sitting out in the sun here for more then 20 minutes makes me want to crawl into a dark room and sleep for 10 days such is it’s energy sapping abilities. So, I turn to the bottle from time to time, because I can control the type of tan I want and obviously because it’s much safer! I had a rather successful experience with St. Tropz in the past, (although it was the spray tan variety) and gradual tanners are all the rage these days so after reading about this online decided to give it a go.
Because I’m too cool for school sometimes (read: lazy) I decided not to exfoliate beforehand. I decided my skin was looking marvelous enough already and I’d just go a slap it on and all would be well, right? Well, yes and no as it turns out. First of all, the process of actually applying this was super easy and quite enjoyable. It’s very moisturising and the texture is nice and light, so quick and easy to slather all over. It’s a white coloured cream that applies clear so it’s hard to know where you’ve applied already etc, but according to the bottle this doesn’t matter as the formula does all the work for you and evens everything out. I covered as much of my bod as I could manage, waited a few minutes for it to dry and then I hit the sheets.
The next morning I was happy to see that a nice medium tan had developed over night, with no streaks on the bed sheets and only the faintest whiff of that fake tan smell off my skin. Due to my refusing to exfoliate, a few darker patches showed up around my elbows, but nothing that a bit of light scrubbing in the shower couldn’t fix. I left it on for a day or two without applying any more and showered as usual. It has pretty good staying power and fades away nicely without looking streaky or patchy. I’m amazed actually! I can’t believe how easy and effortless this was to use, it gives such a lovely even tan all over and literally took about 5 minutes to apply. Result!
I used it again a few days later to build up a slightly deeper tan, and have now decided to make it a once a week event just to keep my skin looking nicely tanned and even. I used the Medium Dark shade (Light Medium is also available) which to be honest, isn’t as dark as it sounds. Its more like a nice medium, natural shade, and I ordered it from FeelUnique.com for the relatively bargaineous price of 15.80euro for 200ml.
Are you planning to try this out? And what are your thoughts on gradual tanners? I can see myself getting quite into them now, much less faffing and effort involved then using full-on fake tan!
